Hilary Collier sacrifices her own career to support the musical education of her younger sister, Dora (Butterfly), even giving up the man she loves to her precocious charge. When Dora decides to leave her husband for an eminent musician, Kronski--who is in love with Hilary--bitter conflict ensues; but disaster is averted when an unexpected event reunites Dora with Craig, leaving Hilary free to marry the musician.


The Ethereal Burden of Devotion Cinema in the mid-twenties often grappled with the burgeoning friction between Victorian duty and the nascent hedonism of the flapper era. Clarence Brown’s 1924 effort, Butterfly, serves as a poignant, visually arresting exploration of this dichotomy. The film is less a simple narra...

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Comparing the cinematic DNA and archive impact of two defining moments in cult history.

Clarence Brown

Harley Knoles
Community
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" The Ethereal Burden of Devotion Cinema in the mid-twenties often grappled with the burgeoning friction between Victorian duty and the nascent hedonism of the flapper era. Clarence Brown’s 1924 effort, Butterfly, serves as a poignant, visually arresting exploration of this dichotomy. The film is less a simple narrative and more a psychological study of displacement. We witness Hilary Collier, portrayed with a hauntingly quiet intensity by Ruth Clifford, as she systematically dismantles her o..."
Walter Wilkinson
Kathleen Norris, Marian Ainslee, Olga Printzlau
United States

